Social Media

[Steph]

What does everyone think of social media in terms of affecting your anxiety/depression/bipolar etc.? I have been told to cancel my social media pages because my husband told me that he notices I get overly anxious and depressed when I go on facebook. I've started to cut down now because I have noticed it too. It seems so trivial, but its almost taboo NOT to have facebook...you kind of become an outcast!! Thoughts? (Please bear in mind that I acknowledge this is trivial, but I was just interested to hear if anyone else is affected by social media like I am).

Cheers!

[The_Real_David_Charles]

Dear Steph,

What do we do as simple human bodies every 24 hrs ?   Let's write a simple list.  Breathe, Move, Think, Digest, Relate and so on ad infinitum.  All important stuff and all things we could not function without.

What does social media do ?  OK, you get the point.   But, maybe because the internet is 24/7 we mistakenly believe that everything on it is valueable, including my response.   OMG, if I don't write a response to Steph the world will end !

Putting technology in perspective for a sec, the first Talkies that made Silent Movies pretty much redundant (but "The Artist" Silent Movie did win at the Oscars a couple of years ago) were met with the same feeling.  People literally seemed to either embrace the change or feel that it "destroyed" the world of the movie.

You probably need a bit of balance.  And your husband is right because he sees you pour everything into Facebook (for ex) till midnight and then rise before 6am to check it again.   LIke you can't function without it.  Even the post only comes once a day.  Too bad the internet doesn't switch off now and then.

Adios, David.

PS   I cannot go on Facebook as you can see I don't have a face.

[Scotty2013]

The Real David Charles said:

Dear Steph,

What do we do as simple human bodies every 24 hrs ?   Let's write a simple list.  Breathe, Move, Think, Digest, Relate and so on ad infinitum.  All important stuff and all things we could not function without.

What does social media do ?  OK, you get the point.   But, maybe because the internet is 24/7 we mistakenly believe that everything on it is valueable, including my response.   OMG, if I don't write a response to Steph the world will end !

Putting technology in perspective for a sec, the first Talkies that made Silent Movies pretty much redundant (but "The Artist" Silent Movie did win at the Oscars a couple of years ago) were met with the same feeling.  People literally seemed to either embrace the change or feel that it "destroyed" the world of the movie.

You probably need a bit of balance.  And your husband is right because he sees you pour everything into Facebook (for ex) till midnight and then rise before 6am to check it again.   LIke you can't function without it.  Even the post only comes once a day.  Too bad the internet doesn't switch off now and then.

Adios, David.

PS   I cannot go on Facebook as you can see I don't have a face.

 Hi David long time no see "burnt pav" ..Hi Steph only if it's like below! lol...Moderation i guess TC.

http://www.baklol.com/pdata/t/l-1668.jpg

[phoenix]

Hi Steph,

I think it effects my anxiety very much. It sometimes makes me feel like a loser bcoz everyone else on Facebook seems to being be doing better than me in life, so it gets me down a lot.

I tend to check up on my ex and his new gf and that doesn't make me feel so great. Recently my ex's gf updated her profile pic of herself in front of a place my ex, our daughter and i used to go to and so I updated my profile pic of my daughter in front of the same place. She took off that profile pic of herself and uploaded a new one and other images in response to my recent profile pic change, so immediately knew that she knew who I was on Facebook and that she also checks up on me. She's better than me cause she has a good job that pays well and owns her own home in a wealthy suburb and she has my ex. I'm a stay at home mum living with my parents and I go to TAFE once a week so it a big difference compared to her. Material things don't matter much to me and I live within my means. If wealth is what makes them happy than they belong together.

I have banned myself from facebook for long periods but I always break it, bcoz it just so easy to turn the computer on when I'm home and log on. I go online to check my bank statements, emails and do some online something and I tell myself Ill just log on and quickly check my Facebook, but it ends up being hours. When I log off i try to get to sleep but I can't bcoz I'm consumed with negative thoughts about my life. So yeah social media doesn't help anxiety and depression, I think finding something else to occupy my time will prevent me from trying to log on to social media sites. I think going cold turkey is the way to go, maybe get friends to email or message you on the phone instead.

[sarahl]

Hi Steph,

I have built my entire career on and around Social Media but am now starting to see it as a curse. I am 'on' every minute of the day when I am awake and it is becoming a burden.

I have recently had an anxiety relapse and watching everyone go about their awesome lives on Facebook makes it that much harder for me at home, knowing I don't have the capacity to do any of that stuff at the moment. 

On the flip side, if I didn't know what they were all doing, I'd be using my imagination and everything would of course be some much MORE amazing and wonderful that I was missing out on and I'd probably feel worse.

Cache 22.

I think you need to have it - its truly a part of our lives now, but we really need to moderate it. Don't be friends with those whose statuses bother us that much, or ex's etc etc. Its all about balance.

Cheers

SL

[ConfusedKady]

Hi steph

I feel that social media has a similar effect to me. Mostly because I get caught up in comparing myself to others. Not good. My boyfriend calls it "fakebook" and doesn't have a profile and my best friend has recently deactivated her account. No one's life is perfect, no matter how fabulous it might seem on Facebook. Don't buy into the bullshit.

Kady

[The_Real_David_Charles]

Dear Scotty,

Burnt pav rules !   Where have you been ?  Sorry, back to Steph....

Dear Steph,

Just wanted to add that I used to have breakfast with my wife and TALK.  Now she is so immersed in her ipad that I basically sit there thinking "I wonder if she would notice if I flushed it down the toilet ?".   And if she forgets something in her research (Ph D) I am blamed because I deigned to TALK during breakfast.     It's kind of like having a 3rd person at the dining table.

When we get to the stage of implanting devices into our heads so that we can read emails and update exciting Facebook stuff like "Went to the shops today and bought shoes" then we can just stay in bed more with a potty and Survival Snacks.     It's almost at that stage anyway with the new google glasses for ski-ing.   So you can shut out the glare of the sun whilst looking at techie info.  Why would you want to go thousands of kms to an expensive ski resort to check on your emails while you ski ?

Come to the Alps.   Ski to your heart's content whilst avoiding any physical social contact other than the odd tree of cliff top. Check on the Dow Jones Index going Up as you go Down.

Adios,David.

PS  At least with a newspaper you could say "Have you finished with that ?" and grab it for a look.  With social media it never ends.   We didn't have a tv for 8 years once and the only big thing we really mised was 9/11.  But an hour later at work all was revealed.  You didn't have a tv for 8 years ???    You didn't have oxygen ???

[gentianne14]

My rant over social medias:

Yesterday I've posted in a forum. I was looking for help to solve an issue I have with a travel agency.

A first person commented saying my post was confusing and ended saying I was wrongly accusing and of defamation. Then another followed up. And then the 1st person stabbed again.

I can assure you I'm an honest person... and naive. I still don't understand why such people would say that, why they have this need of hurting other for no reason?

Thanks to 1 and only 1 person that crossed my life yesterday, I've been feeling down for 2 days. I can't get rid of all these words he said coming back in head again and again...

So internet and social medias can be a great help but it also can be your worse enemy!!!

And as I'm very silly, I'm posting again in a social media!

[AGrace]

Hi Steph,

We are social beings with a strong urgency to have connections, I just think face to face connections are much more valuable than the virtual type. Did my day get better because I discovered one of my friends was eating a muffin, my niece went to the movies, my mum poked me, my sister is doing a new fitness program? NO. Is it of much value that I have 163 virtual friends? NO. Am I a better person for poking my mum back and sharing a link to a youtube video? NO.

Give me real time with my loved ones any day:)

AGrace

[white knight]

Agreeing with AGrace.  Dropped my Facebook friends down from 163 to 45 thereabouts.  Much better.  Limited my time on it down from 4 hours a day to 30 minutes.

I've got my life back. My wife has her husband back. And Facebook is in my life at the appropriate amount.